...Amendment Essay Twenty-seven amendments have been ratified since the original signing of the Constitution, the first ten of which are known as the Bill of Rights. The Amendments to the United States Constitution have had a major effect on American life. A major feature of the Constitution is the capability of changing the document in order for it to become accustomed to the changing times and conditions. There are a few methods in order to change the Constitution. An amendment proposed by 2/3rds vote in each house of congress could be approved by either one of two ways. It must be either ratified by 3/4ths of the State Legislature or by the Constitutional Conventions in 3/4ths of the states. To approve an amendment proposed at a National Constitutional Convention it must also be ratified by 3/4ths of the State Legislatures or by a Constitutional Convention in 3/4ths of the States. The First Amendment, freedoms, is one of the most known and the most important of all. A historical event that led to this amendment was that the new American settlers brought with them a desire for democracy and openness after the American Revolution. They left behind a history of tyranny and official control of information. Using this experience as their guide, the constitutional fathers wrote into their new Constitution a Bill of Rights, which contained the First Amendment. This Amendment was created so that the people would have the freedom to express themselves without worrying. Disagreement to...
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...History 301 / United States Constitution Joseph Richardson As Americans we are given certain “freedoms” that other countries are not entitled to have. In 1787 the United States Constitution went to effect and included the Bill of Rights that provides us with our freedoms. Each of these amendments is very important to the way we live in today’s society and play an important role in our lives. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the foundation for our country and the Amendments it includes gives our citizens their individual rights. The Constitution is what separates us from any other country. Certain Amendments were able to pave the way for all groups of individuals to have equal rights. The Constitution is a living document and was created that way to keep growing and changing to evolve with the American people. Our founding fathers understood that times would change the United States would grow and have different issues then our forefathers had. Because they understood this when they created the Constitution of the United States which included article V. Article V of the United States Constitution states that whenever two thirds of both houses decides an amendment is necessary they can propose it. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution after it is ratified by three fourths of the 50 states. An amendment means a change, addition, correction or alteration to the current Constitution. The reason our Constitution has amendments is because our country is constantly...
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...There are two methods of proposing an amendment to the Constitution as provided by Article V of the Constitution. The first method of amending the constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives. The second method of amending the constitution requires two-thirds of the state legislatures to request that Congress call a national amendment convention, then the Congress must call one. After this process, the convention may then propose the amendments to the states for ratification. There are also two methods of ratifying an amendment. The first and most common method of ratifying an amendment is a three-fourths vote from the legislature in favor of the proposed amendment. The second method of ratifying an amendment is through a special convention called on by the states in which three-fourths of the states must approve the proposed amendment. This second method of ratification has only been used once. (Sidlow and Henschen) Since the constitution came into effect in 1789 more than eleven thousand amendments have been introduced to Congress, of those proposed amendments only twenty seven made it through the process and became a part of our constitution. All twenty seven amendments have been proposed by the first method to amend the constitution, a two-thirds vote in the...
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...POS – 301 November 2, 2014 Professor Biddle My Rights and Freedoms As a citizen of the United States I do not appreciate the freedom and rights given. I have not thought about how fortunate I am to live in a country that allows freedom of speech, freedom of expression, or my favorite, freedom of religion. Throughout this assignment I will explain which freedom in the first amendment relates to me the most, discuss why the Bill of rights are important, and discuss the process for amending the Constitution. The freedom in the first amendment of the constitution relates to me the most would be Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Religion states that as an American I can practice ANY religion I want or I do not have to practice any religion at all. The reason freedom of religion relates to me most is because I am a strong believer in the idiom “to each his own”. I do not care if my friend is Jewish, Hindu, Christian, the list goes on. I think expressing one’s self is extremely important and religion is one of those ways. To me, what a person’s religion is does not determine if they are a good person or not. There are people that consider themselves “Jewish” or “Christian” but yet they are extremely mean and do not care about others. Freedom of religion allows for every single citizen of the United States to have a sense of freedom. We do not feel obligated to have a certain type of religion, which is better! The reason I say this is because if we are not forced to follow...
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...the First Amendment, a part of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was added to the United States Constitution as the first ten amendments in order to gain acceptance and ultimately the adoption of the Constitution. Many have questioned the intent of our founding fathers with regard to speech and the freedoms associated with it. Throughout history, there have been many interpretations of the First Amendment, and just as many questions pertaining to which types of speech are protected. When this country was founded, many of the principles that were important to our founding fathers were important because of their experiences with the British rule. They wanted to ensure the new country and system of government they formulated would protect specific rights of its citizens. The purpose of the First Amendment was to guarantee freedom from governmental control. The founders of our government had enough foresight to see that no other right would be secure without the rights guaranteed within the First Amendment (Kanovitz, 2010), thus it has been stated that this is the most important of all the amendments (Monk, 2003). They left the language general allowing for the ability to make changes to the Constitution (Tueber, 1988). There were five rights specifically stated in the language of the First Amendment. These rights were freedom of religion, the press, speech, assembly and the ability to petition the government (Monk, 2003). Freedom of religion was important because...
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...up the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The first ten amendments give people the essential freedoms and civil liberties that would keep the United States categorized as a democracy. These ten amendments were ratified on December 15, 1791 and as such were added to the Constitution. One thing most people might not know is that the Bill of Rights had been proposed by George Mason during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The idea had been rejected due to the states already having documents that stated rights to their citizens and felt that a federal bill would be quite unnecessary. Another highly influential reason they did not form a Bill of Rights then was because all the...
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...Lopez-Schermer June 10, 2013 Our four fathers as a way of check and balances created the Constitution. They believed that a strong federal government was needed for the country to survive. The constitution is the base for all laws in the United States. It’s the highest law in the United States. The constitution can be changed, when it’s changed it’s called and amendment. Among the amendments are the bill of rights and the reconstruction amendments. In this paper I will discuss how and why amendments become part of the constitution, what were some problems with the original document that motivated the adoption of the bill of rights, the effects of the bill of rights and the reconstruction amendments and their effects. How and why do amendments become part of the constitution? When the constitution was written, the Framers knew that the constitution would and could be amended. Article V of the constitution tells how an amendment can become a part of the constitution. It takes two steps to add an amendment to the constitution. The first step is the proposal. An amendment can be proposed by either two-thirds vote in congress, which includes both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The second step is ratification; the amendment has to be ratified by wither three-fourths of the state legislatures or by state conventions in three-fourths of the states. An amendment can only be ratified after two-thirds of the House and Senate approve of the proposal and send...
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...Bill of Rights and Amendments Paper Jessica Ruiz HIS/301 April 4, 2013 Ryan Tarr Bill of Rights and Amendments Paper The Constitution is a fundamental law, which describes how a strong government should work (Zink, 2009). The Framers had stated that America’s Constitution was a vast contribution to the governments practice, and offered a new form of government to the United States. The United States Constitution is also known as the ultimate law, which was created by our founding fathers to establish a strong governmental structure, to meet the needs of the people in our nation. The Constitution was created to protect the rights of the people and their freedom by enforcing laws on the individuals who did in fact hold power on a political level. The vision of the Framers of an appropriate government for American’s was incorporated in the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. Amendments becoming part of the Constitution In the Constitution Article V reads, that there are two ways for an amendment to become a part of the United States Constitution. The first way is with a two third vote in both houses of Congress the House of Representatives and the Senate. Today the most common used method of the amendment process is the first way by having the Representatives and Senate vote. The second way is a convention that has been set up by two thirds of the state’s legislatures followed by ratification for the amendment (Patterson, 2009). The ratification process is...
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...The First Amendment I believe that the First Amendment was written as a means of protecting the church from the state. The First Amendment is considered the most important amendment in the United States Constitution. It protects the rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of press from government interference. [1] According to J. Hutson in his book the “Church and State in America”, he states the amendment “prevented the federal government from establishing a national religion and allowed people to freely exercise their religious beliefs and practices.”[2] Basically, the First Amendment gives the people the ability to live their lives the way that they want to, the lifestyle that they choose. This amendment was passed 1789. James Madison, known as the “Father of the Constitution” for his contribution to the Constitution, and proposed twelve amendments, which ended up becoming the first ten amendments of the Constitution. These first ten amendments make up what became known as the Bill of Rights. [3] The purpose of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, written mostly by James Madison, with the assistance of Thomas Jefferson, was to address three fundamental freedoms all citizens have: religion, speech and peaceful assembly. According to the Buchanan (2010), when the U.S. Constitution was signed, it did not contain the essential freedoms now outlined in the Bill of Rights, because many of the Framers...
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...The Constitution of the United States of America is perhaps the most valued and important document in our country. The Constitution of the United States was written more than 200 years ago and is still the strongest document in this country. The Constitution in my own words is the rules established long time ago by the first fathers of our country. Personally, it was a great move for the politicians who wrote the Constitution and tried to enforce the new regulations and bring freedom to the country while at the same time equality. This document cannot be changed easily since the changes affect the way everyone in the country. In Article V of the Constitution, tells how to adopt new amendments. Amendments can be proposed by 2/3 vote by the house of Congress. Then the amendments must be approved by ¾ the states, and by ¾ of the state legislatures. This amendment process is usually the first way we think to change the Constitution but it is actually uncommon, because this process takes long time and complicated. The Constitution of the United States allows its citizen the basic freedom of human beings and does not infringe on one’s individuality. It also protects its people economically, politically, socially, and religiously. Compared to the Constitution of United States, California Constitution contains pretty long and includes detailed contents. As of 1990, all legislators in California are limited to serving two terms Both United States and Californian Constitution have...
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...An assignment on 15th amendment of the Bangladesh constitution. The 15th amendment of the Bangladesh constitution is perhaps the most debatable one in the post democratic era that follows the 1990 public upsurge against autocracy. The often pronounced justifications offered for this amendment is the ‘needs’ for returning to the spirit and contents of the founding constitution of 1972 of Bangladesh. Yet the 15th amendment rather accommodates some of the changes brought out by the 5th and 7th amendments, both made by the Martial Law regime and recently declared illegal and unconstitutional by the apex court of the country. 15th amendment, like most of the previous amendments, also largely failed to reflect comparative constitutional studies. Such study is considered essential for learning the experiences of constitutionalism in relevant jurisprudences and borrowing or adapting them in amending a nation’s own constitution. Although the 1972 constitution of Bangladesh was indigenous in part, the 1972 Constituent Assembly (led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) enriched our constitution by the same process of borrowing and/or adapting from models and concepts of foreign constitutions. For example: collective responsibility of ministers to Parliament and functions of parliamentary committees were taken from UK system, the concept of fundamental principle of state policy from India and Ireland, the provisions of human rights and Judicial review from US constitutional jurisprudence...
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...Convention was an important event because it is what lead us to the government we have now. The different compromises are what lead to the methods that were used and still being used nowadays The Constitutional Convention was a meeting that took place in Philadelphia in 1787. The purpose of that meeting was to rewrite the Articles of Confederation. There were fifty five men who were delegates, their purpose was to have the federal government strengthen. The delegates did not think that rewriting the Articles of Confederation would actually work out. Eventually they wrote the U.S. Constitution. George Washington was chosen to lead the convention. All of the delegates had to agree that every state would get one vote. They did not want anyone to know about what was going on during the convention meetings. The delegates made sure to keep everything a secret, anyone who was not a delegate were not allowed to attend any meetings. We have no written documents because they kept everything a secret of what had occurred during the meetings. The only details we have today is from a notebook that belonged to James Madison. However, James Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution.” He had also helped write the federalist papers. At the Constitutional Convention James Madison had done a very good job. When the delegates had to decided to write the “Bill of Rights” he was against it. James Madison was afraid that the future people would just go by those ten amendments that were listed...
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...Bill of Rights and Amendments Bill of Rights and Amendments The United States Constitution was recognized to Americans as a vague statement in clarifying the privileges and the rights of individuals and centralizing the power within the government itself. With the passing of the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments, it grants the people to what is said to be their “natural rights” following additional rights that have significantly changed our society. Amendments and Constitution According to the Constitution, an amendment may be proposed and be presented, where it is put to a two thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The original article is then forwarded for processing and publication to NARA's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) (U.S. Constitution, 2011). The OFR maintains the document until it is either adopted or a failed amendment, then it is transferred for protection to the National Archives. Soon after a proposed amendment is ratified by three-fourths of the states, it becomes a part of the Constitution. (U.S. Constitution, 2011) Not all proposed amendments are accepted and must meet certain constitutional purpose to be passed, for example: after the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and stating that “all men are created equal” the institutionalized system of servitude was a reason to pass to what is now the 13th Amendment of the Constitution and the abolition of slavery. This amendment provided that neither...
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...Amendment I of the Constitution of the United States of America sets the stage for what the government can’t (or at least shouldn’t be able to) deny a person. Right off the bat, the Constitution gives people the right to the freedom of speech, press, religion, and to complaint to or ask for help from the government without punishment. However, the first amendment of the Constitution sometimes get controversial. Some people want certain use of language to be illegal while other want to protect their right. What some people don’t realize, is that the first amendment gives you the most fundamental freedoms. The first amendment gives you the most fundamental freedoms because it allows you to speak your mind, belief what you want, and inform people about what you want without fear of punishment....
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...The Constitution is important to America because it was the document that had founded our government. It was the basis of what would form the United States. It outlines all of our rights as citizens and gives a complete list of all the things we can do, and the rights that we have. The Constitution is the most important document ever crafted in American History, it had developed the representation of the Great Compromise, it had addressed the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation, and it addressed the complaints in the Declaration of Independence The Great Compromise was an agreement amongst the nations with the Connetticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Elsworth. The delegates had decided that the American government would have two houses in Congress: The senate where each state has two Senators, and the House of Representatives where each state has a number of Representatives based on population,in other words, a bicameral system. The Great Compromise provided that membership in the House of Representatives would be in proportion to the states population and members would be elected by all of the voters in the state. while the membership of Senates would be equal. The Articles of Confederation were the original document in the United States that had served as the Supreme law and sought to combine the disparate colonies under a single governmental entity until the Constitution had replaced The Articles of Confederation completely. Established during the revolutionary...
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